Gingrich is the only Speaker of the House to have been disciplined for ethics violations.

During his term as Speaker, eighty-four ethics charges were filed against him; eighty-three of them were dropped. The remaining charge concerned a 20-hour college course called "Renewing American Civilization" that Gingrich had taught through a tax-deductible foundation, Kennesaw State College Foundation. Allegations of tax improprieties led to two counts "of failure to seek legal advice" and one count of "providing the committee with information which he knew or should have known was inaccurate" concerning the use of a tax exempt college course for political purposes. To avoid a full hearing, Gingrich and the House Ethics Subcommittee negotiated a sanctions agreement. Democrats accused Gingrich of violating the agreement, but it was forwarded to the House for approval. On January 21, 1997, the House voted 395 to 28 to reprimand Gingrich, including a $300,000 "cost assessment" to recoup money spent on the investigation.

The full committee panel did not agree whether tax law had been violated. In 1999, the IRS cleared the organizations connected with the courses.

Nope. It's kind of like Ollie North's "conviction" in the Iran Contra scandal. His opponents love to point to the really minor 'convictions' as evidence he is a lying thieving scoundrel, et al, and don't really go on to the judge that threw out all charges as unfounded and unwarranted.

(Ollie did admit to one case of wrong doing. In purchase of a security fence on his expense account, which was deemed an appropriate expenditure, he changed the date on the receipt to avoid an appearance of impropriety and he got caught. And that was a legitimate 'offense'.

I did the same thing on a parking ticket once. The cop gave us all who parked our work vehicles on one street one ticket a day. It cost us a dollar to pay it. I didn't have ny dollar one day so I took yesterday's ticket and changed the date to the same day. But uh oh, the cop hadn't been around yet and I got caught. And sent to the judge. He gave me a good tongue lashing and made me cough up a dollar for each of the two days. And that's how I got my criminal record.

In a strongly worded report, special counsel James M. Cole concluded that Gingrich had violated tax law and lied to the investigating panel, but the subcommittee would not go that far. In exchange for the subcommittee agreeing to modify the charges against him, Gingrich agreed to the penalty Dec. 20 as part of a deal in which he admitted guilt.

Johnson called the reprimand and financial penalty "tough and unprecedented. It is also appropriate," she said. "No one is above the rules of the House."

In a strongly worded report, special counsel James M. Cole concluded that Gingrich had violated tax law and lied to the investigating panel, but the subcommittee would not go that far. In exchange for the subcommittee agreeing to modify the charges against him, Gingrich agreed to the penalty Dec. 20 as part of a deal in which he admitted guilt.

Johnson called the reprimand and financial penalty "tough and unprecedented. It is also appropriate," she said. "No one is above the rules of the House."

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During Newt&#8217;s term as Speaker, eighty-four 84 ethics charges were filed against him; eighty-three 83 of them were dropped.

The remaining charge concerned a 20-hour college course called "Renewing American Civilization" that Gingrich had taught through the Kennesaw State College Foundation, a tax-deductible organization. Allegations of tax improprieties led to two counts "of failure to seek legal advice" and one count of "providing the committee with information which he knew or should have known was inaccurate" concerning the use of a tax exempt college course for political purposes. In an effort to avoid a full hearing, Gingrich and the House Ethics Subcommittee negotiated a sanctions agreement. On January 21, 1997, the House voted 395 to 28 to reprimand Gingrich, including a $300,000 "cost assessment" to recoup money spent on the investigation.

In 1999, the IRS cleared the organizations connected with the courses, but by then it was too late for Newt.

Yup Eagle. Amelia pointed that out in the OP, but unfortunately too many of our friends seem to have reading disorders and stick to the leftist I-hate-Newt or I-hate-somebody mantra and assigned talking points.

Just as a subsequent court threw out the 'convictions' against Ollie North, so was Newt exhonerated on all charges. They call themselves 'progressives' but they never seem to progress all the way to that point.

In a strongly worded report, special counsel James M. Cole concluded that Gingrich had violated tax law and lied to the investigating panel, but the subcommittee would not go that far. In exchange for the subcommittee agreeing to modify the charges against him, Gingrich agreed to the penalty Dec. 20 as part of a deal in which he admitted guilt.

Johnson called the reprimand and financial penalty "tough and unprecedented. It is also appropriate," she said. "No one is above the rules of the House."

Click to expand...

During Newts term as Speaker, eighty-four 84 ethics charges were filed against him; eighty-three 83 of them were dropped.

The remaining charge concerned a 20-hour college course called "Renewing American Civilization" that Gingrich had taught through the Kennesaw State College Foundation, a tax-deductible organization. Allegations of tax improprieties led to two counts "of failure to seek legal advice" and one count of "providing the committee with information which he knew or should have known was inaccurate" concerning the use of a tax exempt college course for political purposes. In an effort to avoid a full hearing, Gingrich and the House Ethics Subcommittee negotiated a sanctions agreement. On January 21, 1997, the House voted 395 to 28 to reprimand Gingrich, including a $300,000 "cost assessment" to recoup money spent on the investigation.

In 1999, the IRS cleared the organizations connected with the courses, but by then it was too late for Newt.

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